


Human Things

by Goldy



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-13
Updated: 2014-07-13
Packaged: 2018-02-08 12:11:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1940577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldy/pseuds/Goldy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“Let’s do something human-y,” he says, all the time, like they’re playing a game.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Human Things

"Let’s do something human-y,” he says, all the time, like they’re playing a game. Like when he drags her out to the Fifth Annual Six Kilometre Run For Heart Disease and they wear matching t-shirts and hats. He even convinces the whole Tyler clan come out to cheer them on. Pete spends most of his time on his mobile while Tony claps his hands and throws pebbles at the runners. It all goes brilliantly until Tony gets bored and spits up blue Gatorade in Jackie’s hair.

“Human-y things,” he says, like he’s handed her a gift, but one he seems to be getting more enjoyment out of. It reminds her of the time Mickey bought her a Nintendo GameCube for her 16th birthday, and then spent the next week playing it until it broke.

Sometimes she figures she’s got to be dreaming. It doesn’t seem right, this, with the Doctor doing everything he can to be an ordinary bloke.

“Now, Rose,” he says, “we can’t use the sonic screwdriver to fix the telly. That would be cheating. We have to do this the human way.” She thinks the human way is all a bit rubbish, but the Doctor whips out his specs and rolls up his sleeves, gets grime on his face and never finishes on account of her jumping him.

(“So that’s why you lot are so obsessed with sex,” he says after the first time, nuzzling her neck, his fingers dancing down her back. “That was _brilliant_.”)

“Blimey, I’ll need money,” he said, that very first night—the night he left her on a beach and promised to spend the rest of his life with her. “I’ll have to get a proper job. And pay taxes. Rose, I’ll have a pension one day! Can you imagine that?”

He sent her a look of terrorexcitementwonder and she thinks that’s when she knew it was really still him.

He still gets it all a bit wrong, though. She reckons it’s ‘cause he’s still got the brain of a 900-year-old alien. He can go on all the Heart Disease runs he wants, but regular old humans still puzzle and fascinate him.

“Dogs on leashes. Who d’you reckon came up with that? You go out and get yourself an animal that’s far cleverer and energetic than you’ll ever hope to be and you teach it a few tricks, tie it up, and then take it out on walks like it’s a big favour to the dog. I don’t know if it’s genius or just downright abusive.” He pauses. “Should we get a dog?”

“Do you want a dog?” she says patiently and doesn’t stop herself from ruffling his hair when he sends her a dopey smile.

“No. Well—I dunno. It's just... it’s so human, isn’t it?”

“K-9,” she reminds him, raising her eyebrows.

He waves that away. “Cutting edge technology is not the same as having a pet that needs to be taken out for a pee at 3am,” he says in that how-could-you-be-so-thick-you-silly-human voice.

Some things never change.

“Come on,” she only says, pulling on his hand.

He refuses to think about money, doesn’t care about this bank or that bank or chequing and investment accounts and interest rates and retirements. He proudly takes his cheque home from Torchwood and says “Blimey, look at all those zeroes” before dropping it in with the old newspapers and dusty magazines.

She just barely manages to stop him from moving them out to the suburbs (“Rose, we could get a _bigger car_ —or one at all, come to think of it”), enrolling them in salsa classes (“Doctor, you _hate_ dancing, remember?”), and all the while, falls more in love with him.

It surprises her. At first the idea of a “normal life” filled her with dread—after New Earth and impossible planets and crossing entire universes, how could she go _back_? But it’s not like that at all. They've still got alien invasions to stop, only now they're sharing a flat, and she's waking up next to him and reminding him to pick milk up on his way home from work.

It really is an adventure, this whole growing old together business, and she’s starting to think that it’s not so bad after all.

And then the TARDIS finishes growing.

It shouldn’t feel so abrupt. After all, she’d watched it grow—helped the Doctor secure parts from Torchwood, stolen her mum’s Atrium 500 hair-dryer as a power source and helped him hook it up to the piece of coral. But it still feels too soon.

“Well, I say ‘finished growing,’” the Doctor babbles. “More like ‘nearly finished.’ Well, I say ‘nearly finished’…” he trails off and then adds, “There are two rooms. Okay, one and a half. The console room, and hopefully a toilet. Also, the console is a strange shade of pink. And there are the elephant statues.” The Doctor ponders this inexplicable phenomenon for a few seconds. “Still! She should fly like a charm. Well, I say ‘charm’…” He grins and looks at her. “What do you think?”

He looks like a nervous schoolboy, with hopeful eyes and a shy smile. Rose can’t help but grin back at him. The Doctor beams.

“I _love_ it,” she says. And then, “It still looks like a police box.”

The Doctor’s gaze snaps back to his new/old TARDIS. “Old habits and all.” He absently scratches the back of his neck. “I rather like it that way, actually.”

“Me, too,” Rose says, but she’s watching him, watching the way he’s looking at his ship. Like he’s got a piece of himself back again. Her smiles turn sadder.

The Doctor glances at her. She can practically see him reading her mind. His smile slips. “We can stay,” he says, after a pause. “On Earth. If you want.”

She blinks at him and then at the TARDIS. “But…”

“It’s been fun, these last few years, hasn’t it?”

“It’s boring,” she says. “It’s… human.”

“Rose Tyler, our life might be many things, but it is _not_ boring.” He sniffs like she’s personally offended him. “Anyway, it has you, doesn’t it?”

He shoots her a smile, one of his I-love-you-please-don’t-leave-me smiles that always makes her stomach flutter.

Warmth spreads through her. “So will the TARDIS.”

His eyes widen with hope. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

She can tell he’s trying not to bounce with excitement. He holds out a hand. “So how about it? Co-owner of your very own TARDIS?”

Co-owner. That’s a good word. She likes that word.

Her fingers slip between his. She takes a breath and feels her heart speeding up, the promise of adrenaline and adventure too heady _not_ to make her feel a rush of longing. The Doctor pulls her forward.

She says the first thing that pops into her mind. “There are elephant statues in the console room? Seriously?”

“Yup,” the Doctor confirms. “That piece of coral might have come from my TARDIS on the other Earth, but she’s grown into a fully fledged TARDIS now, complete with her own personality and memories.” Rose gives him a fond look, and the Doctor shrugs. “Maybe this TARDIS just really likes elephants.”

“Guess we’ll find out, yeah?”

Together, they push the doors open.


End file.
